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TTEAM |
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Linda Tellington-Jones developed her method,
called TTEAM (Tellington Touch Every Animal Method),
in order to communicate with animals by understanding them
instead of dominating them. It is very important to her to
respect the living creature and to be ready to change
behavior. Her long experience with horses shaped her
method as well as her training as a Feldenkrais practitioner
where she learned how the physical body and mental
functions depend on each other. Therefore, a behavior can
be changed by gaining a new awareness of the body. Linda
adapted Feldenkrais' technique for animals. She found touches and learning exercises with which we guide an
animal to a new awareness of its body. By touching or by
making the animal move in a certain way, you can replace
memory of discomfort or pain due to injury or tension by
new, positive experience.
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Gina had had some bad experiences with
other dogs. She must have decided to
intimidate the other dogs so they wouldn't
attack her, and she therefore growled
and stared at every dog she met. I
started to consistently turn her head away at
the slightest growl or bark. Turning the
head away is a Calming Signal; it calms
both her and the other dog. At the same
time I did some TTouches to make her
confidence grow. After a few weeks I
turned her head a little less gently and
growled at her to show her that I
seriously wanted her to change her behavior.
Now she is much more relaxed around other
dogs and sometimes she even turns her
head herself.
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TTOUCH |
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The TTouches are a bunch of special ways
to touch animals. In all of them, you
move the skin softly. Because most
dogs aren't used to being touched really
softly, they will concentrate on how
the body part feels which your hand is
touching. When they concentrate on a
single part of the body, they are more likely
to notice if something is wrong there. Then
they can relax that spot and give it
a chance to get better.
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When Gina joined our family, her whole body was stiff. After using TTouches for a few days , I could already see her relaxing. I think the TTouches made her realize how much nicer the body feels when it is relaxed. Now, in any case, she is a master at relaxing. |
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Before you start with the TTouches, sit
next to your dog and relax. Then gently
pet the dog from head to tail a few times.
This is to start a mental connection
between the two of you. Now put one hand
on the dog's body. Always keep this
hand in contact while you do the TTouches.
With the other hand you start making
circles, 1¼ of a circle for each point
you work on. The size of the circles and
the pressure you use depends on what body
part you are working on. It is ideal, when the
skin moves easily under your fingers,
but the muscles don't get moved. Try it
out on your arm first.
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To calm dogs down, you use the whole surface of your hand. Using the balls of the fingers, you can help your dog adjust to a new situation. It can be very useful before a show. If you want to help a wound heal faster, work around the wound with your fingertips using hardly any pressure. Here the circles are very small. |
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While you are doing the TTouches, make sure your
hands are relaxed, your body is in a
comfortable position and you breathe
regularly. Try to get the day's activities
out of your head and feel with your dog.
When you're done, pet your dog from
head to tail once more and wait a little
bit before doing something else. It
will be a great experience for both of you.
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The ground exercises are another important part of TTEAM. An example of a ground exercise is walking over different surfaces. When the dog walks over a surface it isn't used to, it concentrates on the movements of walking. In doing so, it becomes aware of movements which are not necessary for the action of walking. It will automatically correct the movements and walk in an easier and more relaxed way.
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Another example of ground exercises are the body bandages. Here, too, the bandages give your dog a new awareness of its body.
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In a class where I learned about TTEAM, there was a young Westi who hardly put any weight on one of his paws. It can cause troubles if the weight isn't balanced well over a longer period of time. Our teacher put a body bandage on the dog and it immediately walked perfectly, and also kept walking in the new way once the bandage was off again.
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Take an ordinary medical bandage and tie it around your dog in a symmetrical way. The exact way of how to put it on depends on the dog's personality. If it is a scared dog, you rather take the bandage through under the tail, since tucking the tail between the legs is a sign of being scared. With a bandage under its tail, the dog will more likely keep the tail in a normal position. If you have a dominant dog, put the bandage over the tail, so that the dog can't hold it in a rigid, aggressive way.
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When you put on the bandage put it
on tight, but make sure it's still
comfortable for the dog. Tie the ends
together with a knot or a safety pin. In
the beginning most dogs will try to get
the bandage off. To avoid this, let the
dog do some tricks so it can forget the
bandage. Make sure you praise it after
each trick and give it a treat. Otherwise
it might find it more important to remove the bandage.
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The TTEAM philosophy is: To honor the role of animals as our teachers To bring awareness to the importance of animals in our lives To encourage harmony, cooperation and trust between humans and animals and among humans To recognize the individual learning process of every human and animal To respect each animal as an individual To teach interspecies communication through the TTouch To work with animals using understanding in place of dominance |
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(Wendy Fast, TTEAM practitioner) |
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Links and Books |
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